iamnik77's Bloghttp://caps.fool.com/en-usMon, 01 Jan 0001 05:00:00 GMTMon, 01 Jan 0001 05:00:00 GMTWill the Market Fall Again?http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=863560&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow"><p rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow"><p rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">&#160;</p><p rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">&#160;</p><p rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow"><a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow" href="http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/historical/djia1900.html" target="_self">http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/historical/djia1900.html </a></p><p rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">&#160;</p><p rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">&#160;</p><p rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">Looking at this 100+ year char...iamnik77Sun, 01 Sep 2013 03:30:01 GMTWhat will become of Barnes&Noble?http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=841678&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow"><p rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow"> <p rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">So in the news today I read that Barnes&amp;Noble will stop manufacturing the Nook because of difficulties competing in the e-reader/tablet market. This has me concerned, not so much from an investor point of view (because I don’t own the stock), but from a consumer standpoint. </p> <p rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">For some time now Barnes&amp;Noble has been the strongest of a dying breed of B&amp;M bookstores...iamnik77Tue, 25 Jun 2013 17:41:38 GMTHyperinflation has been the American way of life but someone, somewhere doesn't want us to realize it. http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=221457&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">We hear much talk about hyperinflation these days but I contend that hyperinflation has been at work throughout my entire adult life from when I graduated high school in 1995 up to today. The cpi makes us think wages have stayed even with inflation but do we really think tracking the price of electronic gadgets has anything to do with the cost of living? The things that are a much higher priority than electronics such as housing, education, healthcare, and good jobs aren't refl...iamnik77Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:47:20 GMTAnyone like to hold both long and short positions in their real money portfolio?http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=216982&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">Suppose I have a knack for picking stocks (both short and long positions) that outperform the S&amp;P 500 by a sizable margin. And suppose that my portfolio has a 50/50 allocation to short and long positions. My short positions would consist of overpriced and hopeless companies and my long positions would consist of bargain priced companies with bright prospects. Of course, this portfolio would underperform a portfolio consisting only of my long positions in a bull market and u...iamnik77Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:05:19 GMTIs someone leeching off of my employee benefits?http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=202128&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">A few years ago I took advantage of an opportunity to purchase some shares of JP Morgan Chase through an employee stock purchase plan. At the time the shares were trading at around $40.00 and my cost basis was around $24.00. The plan carried some risk the way it was structured, but odds were if you participated you would profit and clearly it worked in my favor. Before you think that I was some sort of priviliged company executive, let me say I was far from it. I was fairly low...iamnik77Thu, 28 May 2009 15:11:48 GMTGenerating Solid Investing Ideashttp://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=193727&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">Occassionally, I feel very strongly about a particular stock and am willing to bet my hard earned money on it. But these strong feelings are the exception rather than the norm. Most stocks cause a sinking feeling in my stomach as I envision a rotten management that will squander my hard earned capital. I seem to be able to find a couple of bright spots in the market every month or two. Something I have noticed, however, is some Fools who play CAPS seem to be able to generate te...iamnik77Tue, 12 May 2009 14:55:38 GMTSurprised by the performance of my real money portfoliohttp://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=173660&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow"> </p><p rel="nofollow">&#160;</p><p rel="nofollow">I just completed my quarterly assessment of my real money stock portfolio which I have done for the last five years. Here are my results (investment returns are not inflated by new contributions and frictional costs of capital gains taxes have been deducted from my performance) for each quarter alongside the DJIA and the S&amp;P 500.</p><p rel="nofollow">&#160;</p><p rel="nofollow">&#160;</p><p rel="nofollow">Date &#160; &#160...iamnik77Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:14:53 GMTA Question for all CAPS All Starshttp://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=164534&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">What do you do differently than the majority of CAPS players that makes you an all star? I'm interested in your stock selection approaches and your approach to timing your buying and selling (or shorting). I will post a reply as well but don't want to steal anyone's thunder so will wait to see who wishes to reply. </p>iamnik77Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:53:13 GMTShould I end my C and BAC CAPS picks today?http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=163835&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">I picked these up out of the clearance bin a few days back and went long full well knowing I could go near to -100 on each pick. Today puts me healthily in the positive on both picks. I'm tempted to end the picks today but then I still remember why I picked them in the first place. I was hoping for a triple or nothing opportunity and neither pick has tripled yet! Your thoughts?</p>iamnik77Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:03:20 GMTI lack the vision needed to short this market....http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=160580&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">Are you wondering how all of those truly creative investing geniuses can pierce through the investing fog and see Dow 5000 and lower? Actually 5000 doesn't seem like an impossibility to me but I just can't sell stocks that are offering me earnings yields of 10% and higher over the next several years. I don't know what else can beat that long term.</p><p rel="nofollow">Below is a reply I posted to another blog post. It captures much of what I am thinking at the moment: </p><p re...iamnik77Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:51:01 GMTBye Bye Lexmarkhttp://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=129894&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">After issuing a much lowered earnings estimate and stating that printing volume is down, the future looks very bleak for this company. As a regretful user of a Lexmark printer, I know exactly what is happening. Somewhere along the way, some very important person at Lexmark decided to stop focusing on making quality printers for home use and decided to look for ways to milk customers buy making smaller ink cartridges that don't work as well. I was spending about 40 cents a page ...iamnik77Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:16:00 GMTWhat is going on with FedEx?http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=121038&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">My friend who works at a FedEx office just called me to give me the bad news. Many employees at FedEx will be taking paycuts along with a freeze on raises for at least one year. Fred Smith, the CEO, is taking a 20% cut, the people immediately below him are taking smaller pay cuts, and the lowest salaried employees are taking 5% pay cuts. My friend is the highest level non salaried employee so fortunately she won't be taking a pay cut but will not get a raise this year. Also, he...iamnik77Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:15:45 GMTWhat to do with JP Morgan?http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=115983&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow"> <p rel="nofollow">I just closed my JPM outperform pick. Interestingly, I have had an out perform on it for over a year and I am closing it as a winning pick with a 4 or 5 percent relative gain. What bear market in financials?</p> <p rel="nofollow">&#160;</p> <p rel="nofollow">This is only a move to boost my accuracy since the stock could dip further. If it moves too far below $25.00 a share, I will probably put an out perform on it again.</p> <p rel="nofollow">&#160;</p>...iamnik77Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:20:43 GMTThe Red Thumb Phenomenonhttp://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=111748&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">Looking at the CAPS members who are in the top one percent, red thumbing stocks is producing spectacular results. The top members have a high percentage of shorts in their CAPS portfolio and I'm having a difficult time finding any that have even 50% long positions. I am wondering why this practice is apparently much more successful than picking outperforms since you still have to beat the market one way or the other to do well in CAPS. I am also wondering if it is just the flav...iamnik77Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:58:02 GMTDow 9500+ on Nov 3rd and 4th Because of Obamahttp://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=104105&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">So now Obama has a small cushion in the polls. But let's all see the world through the eyes of Obama. He's thinking that this is too good to be true and that if the Dow stays close to 9000 or below 9000 until the polls close he is a near lock to win because people are so sour on the economy and are blaming it on the current administration.</p><p rel="nofollow">But Obama, being the reasonably intelligent man that he is, knows that if something seems too good to be true it probab...iamnik77Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:20:46 GMT10,000 Maniacshttp://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=99291&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">So I just took a Fool poll asking whether I am staying in this market or not. I side with the 39% of Fools who are trying to get all of the cash they can to buy up these rare bargains. Of all the varying responses to the poll I can sympathize with most of them. But I get a sinking feeling in my stomach about the 4% of Fools who are pulling everything out of the stock market and going 100% cash. Whether this sinking feeling is for them or for myself I am not sure.</p><p rel="nof...iamnik77Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:42:33 GMTTo Buy or Not to Buyhttp://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=96402&t=01009749919230067725<p rel="nofollow">So about three years ago my dad gave me $10,000.00 of his own money to invest for him. Fast forward to today with all of these news bites about the financial destruction of the world and my dad decides now is the time to check in on his investment. He was expecting a 30% loss but was pleasantly surprised by a 20% gain. I give a lot of the credit to the Motley Fool because, in addition to various books I have read about investing, the Fool has made me a much more intelligent inv...iamnik77Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:27:58 GMT